IP telephony adoption helps with business productivity, says report

A new study claims that, among firms which have adopted internet protocol (IP) telephony, a significant number have already witnessed improvements in both internal communications and productivity.

The study, moreover, says that IP telephony adoption is increasingly being seen among firms not as an optional nicety, but as an essential means for helping them to tackle the impact the current global recession is having on their activity.

According to the study – carried out by influential independent analysts Frost & Sullivan – 56% of those firms that had already adopted IP telephony as part of a broader unified communications (UC) strategy reported that communications among staff had improved as a result.

41% meanwhile said that collaboration among staff had also benefitted from IP telephony adoption – whilst 36% claimed that IP telephony had also helped boost productivity.

Significantly, 57% of firms surveyed said that their UC implementation had been strongly influenced by their need to tackle the effects of the recession – with almost 80% saying they predicted a return on this investment in the technology over a two-year period. 25% of respondents even went as far as predicting a return on investment within six months.

The report found that businesses involved in healthcare and pharmaceuticals had been those most likely to see UC and IP telephony as a means of helping to overcome recessionary pressures – with 67% of respondents in these areas saying that such pressures had strongly influenced their decision to adopt these technologies.

Technology companies were the next group most likely to cite the economy as a key reason for their implementation of IP telephony and UC – represented by 62% of respondents.

In terms of regional variation, the report found that, at 60.3%, the UK currently boasts the largest proportion of UC-supported businesses – followed by the US at 58%.